9 h. ago Countries deadlocked on plastic production and chemicals as talks on a global treaty draw to a close

Negotiations on a global treaty to end plastic pollution are drawing to a close Thursday

Events

27 h. ago Talks stall on world’s first plastic pollution treaty one day before deadline

Almost 100 countries reject draft treaty as ‘unambitious’ and ‘inadequate’Talks on the world’s first legally binding treaty to end plastic pollution have stalled just one day before the negotiations are due to end.Some of the countries calling for an ambitious treaty to include targets to reduce plastic production, including Colombia, the EU and the UK, have rejected as “unacceptable” and “unambitious” a draft treaty text that does not include production caps, nor address chemicals used in plastic products. Continue reading...

Events

31 h. ago New draft of plastic pollution treaty would not limit plastic production

Negotiators working on a treaty to address the global crisis of plastic pollution are discussing a new draft of the text that would not limit plastic production or address chemicals used in plastic products

Politics

39 h. ago Plastic treaty talks nearing collapse as nations remain deadlocked on production

Environmental organisations warn that without urgent compromises the session could fail to produce a treaty capable of tackling the scale of the crisis

Events

63 h. ago Buoyant, the size of a lentil and almost impossible to recover: how nurdles are polluting the oceans

Millions of the tiny plastic pellets are being washed up on the coast of Kerala in India in the latest in a series of global spills, as plastic treaty talks continue in GenevaWhen a Liberian-flagged container ship, the MSC Elsa 3, capsized and sank 13 miles off the coast of Kerala, in India, on 25 May, a state-wide disaster was quickly declared. A long oil slick from the 184-metre vessel, which was carrying hazardous cargo, was partially tackled by aircraft-borne dispersants, while a salvage operation sealed tanks to prevent leaks.But almost three months later, a more insidious and persistent environmental catastrophe is continuing along the ecologically fragile coast of the Arabian Sea. Among the 643 containers onboard were 71,500 sacks of tiny plastic pellets known as nurdles. By July, only 7,920 were reportedly recovered. Continue reading...

Politics

7 d. ago More than 200 lobbyists at UN’s plastic treaty talks will limit progress, campaigners warn

Environmental group says industry figures will be obstructive and aim to reduce overall ambition of meetingMore than 200 industry lobbyists are attending the UN’s meeting to hammer out a global plastics treaty, raising fears that moves to prevent runaway plastic production may be undermined.The 234 lobbyists from the oil, petrochemical and plastics industries outnumber the combined delegations of all 27 EU member states, and far exceed the number of people attending with the delegation of scientists as well as Indigenous peoples at the Geneva talks. Continue reading...

Events

9 d. ago The Guardian view on plastic pollution: global action is desperately needed to deal with this scourge | Editorial

Delegates at UN treaty talks must not allow negotiations to be derailed again by fossil fuel interestsPlastic pollution has reached the most remote and inaccessible parts of our beleaguered planet. It has been found in Greenland’s ice cap, near the summit of Mount Everest, and in the deepest depths of the western Pacific Ocean. Nature programmes have sounded the alarm over a human-made crisis that has become an environmental scourge and a serious threat to our health. Yet global production of plastics is on course to triple to more than a billion tonnes a year by 2060, after increasing by more than 200 times over the past 75 years.This gloomy backdrop should inject a sense of urgency into UN-convened talks in Switzerland this week, aimed at agreeing a binding global plastics treaty. In 2022, when 173 countries committed to work towards such an accord, there was widespread relief that at last a multilateral route was to be taken towards solving a quintessentially global problem. Sadl...

Economics

9 d. ago UN plastic pollution talks must result in ambitious treaty, leading expert says

Professor Richard Thompson, a marine litter expert, says delegates must act decisively to ‘look next generation in the eye’Delegates at the UN plastic pollution treaty talks in Geneva must secure an ambitious global agreement so they can look future generations in the eye, one of the world’s leading marine litter experts has said.Prof Richard Thompson, who was named one of Time’s 100 most influential people this year for his groundbreaking work on plastic pollution, said decisive action was needed to protect human health and the planet. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago World in $1.5tn ‘plastics crisis’ hitting health from infancy to old age, report warns

Plastic production has increased more than 200 times since 1950 and hits health at every stage from extraction to disposal, says review in the LancetPlastics are a “grave, growing and under-recognised danger” to human and planetary health, a new expert review has warned. The world is in a “plastics crisis”, it concluded, which is causing disease and death from infancy to old age and is responsible for at least $1.5tn (£1.1tn) a year in health-related damages.The driver of the crisis is a huge acceleration of plastic production, which has increased by more than 200 times since 1950 and is set to almost triple again to more than a billion tonnes a year by 2060. While plastic has many important uses, the most rapid increase has been in the production of single-use plastics, such as drinks bottles and fast-food containers. Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago Plastics a ‘grave’ danger to health, scientists warn before UN talks

Experts say materials are harmful ‘at every stage’ of human life, as diplomats hold talks on global treaty

Events

last month Campaigners in Queensferry to protest against plastic pollution ahead of Global Plastics Treaty negotiations

Communities up and down the country will unite on Saturday 19 July to take a stand against the Government’s inaction on plastic pollution •Protests and beach cleans will be taking place across the country as part of a National Day of Action

Politics